Build A KickAss Gaming PC Build for Under $1200

Choosing the right hardware can sometimes be difficult for those wanting to build a new PC, so I decided to craft together a KickAss PC that's under a $1200. My philosophy in building computers is that you never want to build a system and skimp on any one component because you don't want a lopsided rig when it comes to performance. The parts I've put together in this build are not only for a person who games, but someone who does a lot of content creation on their computer and wants the most bang for their buck given the price restriction.

-Chris Zele

Processor:

I chose an Intel Haswell i5-4670k as my processor since it's a quad-core part and less expensive than Intel's 4770k by almost $100. The 4670k sports 6mb of L3 cache the same as the 4770k and boasts 4-cores and 4-threads and an unlocked multiplier. The chip can overclock easily to around 4.5GHz and is a great option those looking for a budget performance.

Motherboard:

I went fairly cheap on the motherboard as this ASUS Z87-A board has everything a power user really needs and it's super-duper cheap. The mobo supports SLI, has 2 SATA-III ports along with 4 SATA-II ports, and 4 USB 3.0 ports too. This ASUS board is only $130 and as it offers SLI with both cards running in PCI-Express 3.0 x8 it's definitely a great value for this build.

Heatsink:

Cooling is always very important and it doesn't need to be very expensive as there are many different options for builders to choose from. I went with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo for this build as it has a great price to performance ratio and it's cost $35 which is a small price to pay for excellent cooling. Maximum PC gave it a 10/10 in their review of it a few years ago which is a rarity as they've only given four 10's ever since their beginnings in the 90's. To read the review of the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo Click here.

RAM:

I chose 8GB of Corsair XMS3 because performance doesn't improve that much if you're using Corsair Vengeance or XMS3. When you're purchasing Vengeance you're paying more for the RAM's fancier heatspeaders than you are for a performance boost. Corsair's XMS3 RAM is usually $10 to $15 cheaper too.

Video Card:

The most important component when you're gaming, editing photos, or using any multimedia program is your video card. I went with an MSI GTX 760 Gaming card as it is overclocked right out of the box and can max out 95% of all current PC games at 1920x1080 while still getting 60FPS.

Case:

I went with a Corsair 200R as it provides adequate cooling with two fans stock and great cable routing along with 2 USB 3.0 ports. Corsairs's 200R is super cheap at $60 and also has awesome cable routing and tool-less drive bays. The 200R is like a Honda Civic, it may not look like much but it will last forever.

Power Supply:

For the power supply I selected a Corsair TX750 750 watt power supply as the price difference over the TX650 was only $30 more. The TX750 is more than enough to handle a 3570k and a 660 Ti, and it can also handle an SLI setup too down the road.

Storage: 

For my SSD I went with a Sandisk Ultra Plus 256GB SSD because it's one of the cheapest fastest SSD to boast sequential read and write speeds of 530MB/s and 445MB/s respectively. The SSD comes with a 3-year warranty. I ditched mechanical storage as it would add to much cost to my build and I wanted to go for performance not practicality on this build.

Optical Drive:

 I went with this ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM optical drive because it received 5 Stars on Newegg from over 4,200 reviews and it was only $20.

OS:

Windows 7 the best OS you can get right now.

All products were selected on Newegg on 07/03/13

Here's a screen cap from Newegg of all the prices of the parts I selected.

Canonical's Ubuntu 13.04 Gets Released

The newest flavor of Ubuntu was released today which according to Maximum PC "benefits for all users because of Canonical's focus on lightweight systems means faster response times in casual use and a reduced memory footprint anyone can appreciate, regardless of system specs." The OS looks like a re-skinned version of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, so the user interface remains the same in 13.04. The OS is 794mb, which means unfortunately you'll have to burn this distro to a DVD if you plan on installing via disc. Another small downer is that 13.04 will only be supported for 9 months which is kind of a bummer. Hopefully soon Ubuntu users will receive another LTS distro, so they can have an OS that will last longer than 3/4 of a year. 
Here's a link to the download page.

-Chris Zele

How To: Get Amazon Instant Videos Working on Ubuntu

Linux is great option for an OS as it's very powerful and great for coding and making applications, but some Internet services don't run it correctly with out some extra steps like Amazon Instant Videos. The reason why it doesn't work correctly is that Amazon's DRM on its streaming service is not Linux friendly by default. There are a few things you need to tweak before getting Amazon Instant Video (AIV) up and running on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. 

See what I mean...

When you First fire up Chrome or Chromium and try to watch Amazon Instant Videos you will be greeted by this page. The error message says that you will tell you need to disable Chrome PPAPI in your Plugin Settings. 

1. 

If you're using Chrome or Chromium the first step is only for those using these browsers. To get your Plugin Settings type in chrome://plugins/ in the address bar. Scroll down the page and disable the Plugin under the Adobe settings (Image below).

2.

The next step pertains to those using Firefox, Chrome, or Chromium browsers. You will now need to install two applications from the Software Center hal & libhal 1. To get these applications from the Software center type in apt-get install libhal1 and apt-get install hal into the Software Center search bar and the applications will pop right up and install them. (Images below)

3. Now you can start your AIV streaming! Here's a list of some of the best Free content on the streaming service which includes 30 Movies, TV shows, and stand up sketches  click here to see them.

EVGA to Launch a Geforce GTX 680 Mac Edition Video Card

EVGA will be launching a Mac Edition Geforce GTX 680 which will be compatible with Apple's Mac Pro desktop. The new video card will support OSX and Micorsoft's Windows 7 and 8 Operating Systems. EVGA's Apple friendly card will sport two dual-link DVI connectors, an HDMI port, and a Display port. The company has not said what the price will it will cost, but it will most likely cost about $150-$200 than a normal Geforce 680.There will most likely be a premium to pay for the new card. Sapphire a maker of AMD video cards released a Mac Edition of their 7950 which retails for $480, while their standard 7950 has a street value of only $330. The new offering from EVGA should be pretty interesting addition to the GPU mix as it will probably be the go to card for those wanting to game on OSX or build a powerful Hackintosh.

Here's a photo of what the card will look like which is essentially a normal 680 with some extra silver pieces attached to its' shroud.

ASUS Launches Geforce GTX 650 Ti Boost DirectCU II

Nvidia's 650 Ti Boost is a new offering by the graphics giant and it is supposed to compete with AMD's newly launched 7790 video card. Both new GPU's are priced at $150 and they both offer multi-GPU support which makes them the cheapest cards to offer SLI/Crossfire.

ASUS's new Direct CU II 650 Ti Boost card boasts a core clock of 1085MHz which is 105MHz faster than the card's reference clockspeed of 980MHz. The card also sports 2GB of GDDR5 RAM on a 192-Bit interface says ASUS and it is Direct X 11.1 compatible. ASUS goes on to say in their press release that the aftermarket cooler keeps the card 20% cooler when compared to Nvidia's reference cooler.

Early reports of the Nvidia's 650 Ti Boost V.S. the 7790 show that the Nvidia card dominates in almost every benchmark the cards have been compared in. To see how the cards compare you can look at Anandtech's review click here.

-Chris Zele

Humble Bundle: THQ Edition Relaunched

For those of you who don't know what a Humble Bundle is it's when a publisher opts to sell it's games so that it can give some of their proceeds to charity. Gamers get to pay what they want for the games, but you need to spend over the average payment to receive all the games in the bundle.

The games being offered in this Humble Bundle are from THQ and include Darksiders 1 & 2 as well as Red Faction Guerrilla and Armageddon. THQ had a Humble bundle a few months ago after they announced they had become bankrupt. The company's disbanded developers are now offering up their titles again for a second THQ go around.

For example in this bundle if you spend $1 you will receive Darksiders 1 and Red Faction Guerrilla. If you spend over the minimum payment of $6.81 you will get both games above, but you'll also get Darksiders 2 and Red Faction Armageddon. The Humble Bundle games all come with Steam codes for the games which is awesome as that's what we hardcore PC Gamers want. On a side note the Humble Bundle team will be offering up new bundles weekly too so stay tuned.

The deal ends in 6 days and can be found at this link https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly

The 30 Best Free Amazon Prime Instant Videos

I decided to make a quick guide to the best free movies that Amazon offers to its Prime members because its something I feel is lacking on the internet. Amazon's Prime Instant videos is kind of a wasteland, so finding good movies or shows can sometimes be difficult. The list below is a set of movies that I recommend people watch on Prime videos and they're ones I enjoyed watching.


#1

The main character of Into The Wild is played by Emile Hirsch goes off on a journey to find himself in the wild of Alaska and leaves behind all of his belongings and his family and friends. The film tells a story of his travels across the U.S. trying to get Alaska.

#2

True Grit is a western flick that stars Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon along with Hailee Steinfeld and this revenge movie is nothing short of awesome.

#3

The Korean drama Old Boy is insane and has many plot twists that will have you saying “Holy Shit that did not just happen” and the ending is crazy as hell too.

#4

The Lincoln Lawyer is one of the best titles Mystery/Drama on Amazon Prime Instant Videos and it's also Matthew  Mcconaughey’s best movie ever.

#5

Mark Wahlberg is in this Action-Packed movie and he is contracted by the government to do security detail things go terribly wrong and he finds himself on the run from the FBI. Shooter is a great film to watch if you're bored and want to see some explosions and lots of killing.

#6

Mel Gibson might be kind of nuts now, but he used to make fantastic movies. Brave Heart is an awesome Scottish war movie.

#7

The Super Hero movie Captain America: The First Avenger came out with a bang smashing through the box office and it is one Amazon’s premier movies. The action packed movie is one everyone should see. In this Marvel Comics movie Captain America (Chris Evans) shows you how Cap got his start as a Super Soldier who turned into a Super Hero.

#8

A horror film that isn’t for everyone because of the fact that it was shot with a camcorder. I would suggest those who are prone to getting motion sickness do not watch this film. The movie is awesome however, as it is comprised of mini stories with insane shit happening in each one. Here's the link for V/H/S.

#9

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is based on a Swedish crime novel and is pretty f@cked to say the least, but it will keep you entertained and there are two more movies after it. 

#10

I thought Super 8 was going to be garbage when I saw the trailers for it couple of years ago, but when I watched on Prime videos I was pleasantly surprised. Super 8 is a Sci-Fi flick that is pretty good all around.

#11

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt enough said. 

#12

Eddie Murphy has not made a triple A movie in quite some time (probably because he is too rich now) Coming To America is one of Murphy’s first comedy movies. The comedian actually plays 5 roles in the movie too.

#13

Sorry for the cliché, but Bill Burr’s Let It Go is hands down the funniest comedy special on Amazon Prime Videos easily.

#14

I love 80’s movies and Ferris Bueller's Day Off is one of my absolute favorites.

#15

One word Funny, Gabriel Iglesias will make you laugh with his fat jokes, and his crazy-ass stories about his run-ins with the cops.

#16

All 9 seasons of The X Files are on Amazon Prime videos which means there are over 202 episodes of the Sci-Fi TV show for your viewing pleasure.

#17

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol was surprisingly good and wasn’t a piece of shit that it was going to because most movie sequels are pretty damn crappy.

#18

Hugo is about an orphan boy who works the clocks in an old subway station and it tells his story of trying to find out the mystery surrounding his dead father.

#19 

I’m not too fond of his show Louie, but I do like his stand up Chewed Up a lot though.

#20

Let the badassery commence Wayne's World is legit.

#21

Thor isn't the best Super Hero movie, but at least it is somewhat entertaining and for Prime members it’s free and that's what this list is all about.

#22

The first season of Sons of Anarchy is the best and is definitely a show to watch for people who like gang related dramas. The second season is pretty disappointing because nothing happens in it so you are forewarned the series peaks at the first season and it’s downhill from there.

#23

Babel is a decent Brad Pitt film and is a movie that is well suited for someone bored and just looking to pass sometime. The film features many plot lines and cultures along with the idea that the decisions people make can impact the lives of others across borders.

#24

The Next Three Days features Russell Crowe and is about his attempt to break his wife out of prison after she has been convicted of murder.

#25

Justified is a fantastic redneck TV show which stars Timothy Olyphant as Federal Marshall Raylin Gibbins and boy does he deliver. If you're intrigued with shows that feature guns, drug busts, and gang fights this show is for you.

#26

Pretty in Pink was added to Amazon's Prime Instant videos recently and is another great John Hughes movie that Amazon is now offering. This film is a great 80's classic starring Molly Ringwald and John McCarthy.

#27

Nacho Libre a great Jack Black movie that's funny as hell. The movie is about a guy named Nacho who wants to become a Luchador so he can become famous, so he can have money and glory.

#28

Eddie Murphy strikes again on this list as his 80's film Beverly Hills Cop was recently added to the streaming service.

#29

Top Gun is a movie about an elite fighter pilot school called you guessed it Top Gun. The film features Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, and Val Kilmer.

#30

A Knight's Tale is a romantic comedy about Heath Ledger's character William Thatcher who wants to become a knight, but can't because he wasn't born of royal blood. The film is about his quest to become a knight and also about his love interest a princess who watches him fight in knight tournaments from time to time.

This article was originally written on 2/4/13 and updated on 4/9/13